A method for making a perfumed cake which is resistant to elevated temperatures, the cake produced by this method, and use of this cake with a stream of high temperature air such as a hair blower to infuse aroma into the stream of air.
Fragrances and perfumes are widely used to freshen air by masking an unpleasant odor or by infusing an agreeable odor into it.
Frequently a substance is sprayed into the air, or is extracted from a solid cake by a fluid stream flowing over its surface, either liquid or gas. There are low temperature applications which involve no special problems. Water and alcohol are frequently used in a material to be sprayed. Organic plastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride can be used for a matrix to contain the fragrance in a solid cake. Such matrix materials tolerate and are useful in normal temperatures below those at which their function is degraded.
Fragrances and perfumes are usually oily, and will tolerate elevated temperatures without significant degradation. However, conventional materials for holding them in a solid body will not tolerate substantially elevated temperatures. Instead they will melt or otherwise degrade, and will not provide a body which is suitably shape-retentive,
There are numerous applications where a high-temperature airstream can be improved by the infusion of a fragrance or perfume. One example is the conventional hair dryer, especially hand-held hair dryers, in which the airstream temperature is often as high as 200 degrees F. Known plastic cakes with properties amenable to holding and releasing fragrances and perfumes are quickly melted away at higher temperatures. Organic plastic materials that resist higher temperatures are well known, but they do not accept perfumes.
For this reason, perfume exuding attachments to hair dryers, both stationary and hand-held, have not been produced. It is an object of this invention to provide a composite organic plastic body (cake) which can releasably hold perfumes, and can withstand 300 degrees F temperatures to assure flame and smoke resistance, and the 200 degrees F temperature commonly produced by hair dryers.
This will enable, for example, a clip-on device which can readily be attached to the outlet of a hair dryer to impart or infuse perfume into the existing air stream.
It is another object of this invention to provide the body in a shape conducive to smooth air flow over its surface so as to cause least turbulence, while still releasing sufficient perfume from the body.
This invention comprehends the combination of a hot air source, for example but not of limitation a hand-held hair dryer, which produces a rapid stream of hot air to dry the hair, together with a body (herein called xe2x80x9ccakexe2x80x9d) in contact with the air stream.
According to this invention, the body incorporates a fragrance or perfume (collectively called xe2x80x9cperfumexe2x80x9d herein) in a matrix with a surface in contact with the stream, from which the air stream can remove perfume for infusion into the air stream.
According to a preferred feature of this invention, the matrix is able to hold the perfume throughout its mass, to resist flame and smoking at temperatures up to 300 degrees F and to resist melting or plastic deformation at temperatures up to 300 degrees F.
A matrix material suitable for this invention comprises virgin polypropylene or virgin polyethylene or their mixture compounded with short glass fibers to raise its heat deflection temperature to a sufficient value, while still enabling the incorporation of perfume into the polypropylene or polyethylene.
For convenience in disclosure, the virgin polypropylene, virgin polyethylene, or their mixture is referred to herein as xe2x80x9cPolyxe2x80x9d, signifying either one or their mixture in any ratio.
The above and other features of this invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description and the accompany drawings, in which: